18 November 2020

DIY Beauty Products

Advice

2020 has undoubtedly been a strange year for everyone, turning what we know on its head has forced us to return to a simpler way of living with more time to focus on ourselves, how we’re spending our time and what we’re consuming. For many people, it has been a time of uncertainty, which is why getting creative through cooking, baking, exercising or arts & crafts have been great ways to ground ourselves and focus on the here and now. One of the things we noticed that was not receiving the same amount of attention as the much-loved banana bread, was home-made skin care products. Buying beauty and skin care products can be a long-winded and often a disheartening process when we fall down the rabbit-hole of trying to choose from the hundreds of options out there. On top, it can become stressful when trying to balance quality, quantity, ethical issues and how much money we can afford to spend.

Simplify your beauty regime with some home-made beauty products, saving your skin from nasty chemicals and reducing unnecessary packaging. Most of our suggestions can be made with ingredients you’ll likely be buying for cooking or that you’ll easily find in the supermarket. To store your new products, buy some glass containers, or even better, wash and reuse old containers to save money and give them a new life! When using natural products, you’ll find that certain items have more than one benefit and therefore can be a great investment. Take coconut oil for example, not only is it used for cooking, but also as a makeup remover and moisturiser.

Find below our tried and tested suggestions for some easy homemade beauty products to get you started:

FACE MASK

There are plenty of DIY face mask ideas on the internet, but our recommendation would be to combine 3 ingredients you can easily get from the supermarket: honey, cocoa powder and yoghurt, to brighten, cleanse and gently unclog pores. Combine one teaspoon of each before applying for 15 minutes and then rinse off well.

EXFOLIATOR

Household staples like sugar, salt and coffee (used or fresh) are all natural exfoliants that can be used to scrub away dead skin cells in the shower. Sugar and coffee are not as harsh as salt and therefore are excellent for the face, whereas salt can be great for the body and feet. Mix one of these ingredients with olive or coconut oil to create a moisturising face or body scrub. Add in peppermint essential oil for an invigorating refreshing scrub, lavender for a calming scent or citrus for a sweet-smelling wakeup call.

MAKEUP REMOVER

For a gentle, easy and chemical-free way to remove make-up, use pure natural rosewater. Combine this with olive or coconut oil to make it more effective at removing stubborn makeup like mascara.

PRE-SHAVE OIL

Combine a nut oil, such as almond oil, with an equal amount of olive oil and then add in a few drops of lavender essential oil. Apply on your face, legs or body a minute or two before shaving for smooth skin with less irritation!

MOISTURISER

This homemade moisturiser feels super soothing on the skin, and is a much cheaper alternative that will last a long time. For extra brownie points, put some into mini glass jars and gift them to friends and family! You’ll need: 1 cup of shea butter, 4 tablespoons of almond oil and 10 drops of lavender oil or your favourite smelling essential oil. Fill ¼ of a pot with water over a medium-low heat and place a bowl on top. Melt the shea butter in the bowl and the add in the almond oil, before placing the mixture in the fridge until it’s solid (about 20 minutes). Next, use an electric whisk or mixer to whip up the mixture for a couple of minutes, adding in the essential oils as you go. Once done, place in a glass jar and enjoy.

Words: Bella Charlton

30 March 2020

How to plant trees from your living room

Advice

We’re all spending a little more time at home than we’d perhaps like to at the moment, but that doesn’t have to stop us from adopting greener habits and being more environmentally friendly. When faced with the dilemma of how we could still make a positive difference without leaving our home, we came across some fantastic initiatives from different companies that plant trees. Planting trees provides work to communities, produces food and above all, reduces the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. We loved this idea so much that we’ve rounded up our favourite ways to plant a tree that are completely covid-safe and in some cases, don’t even cost a penny:

ECOSIA

Using the Ecosia search engine, rather than Google or Bing for example, will help plant trees. They use part of the revenue they make from advertising to fund tree planting initiatives all over the world, so it is completely free to use. All you have to do is install the Ecosia plugin and start browsing!

PLANT YOUR CHANGE

Spare change? Plant Your Change will use it to plant a tree. Once you connect your card on their website, they round up your change from your online purchases to the nearest pound and use it to plant a tree. It’s another simple, no-fuss way of protecting the planet whilst putting your loose change to good use.

ONE TREE AT A TIME

Our friends at One Tree at a Time not only plant trees but are also supporting businesses in the Alpine industry in understanding ways in which they can be more sustainable. They’re also building a strong community at the same time.

MORE MOUNTAIN

At More Mountain, for every guest that stays a tree is planted. When you book with More Mountain, you’re not only in for an epic holiday, but you’ll also be contributing to a healthier and greener planet. Simple yet effective — it’s a yes from us.

HARD BAR

Hard Bar has set the bar high with their aim to not only become carbon neutral, but carbon negative. Also, for every bar you buy, they plant a tree! Another great, forward-thinking initiative.

TREEDOM

Treedom is a website where you can purchase a tree, which will be planted and grown by a local farmer. They send you the location of where it’s been planted and a picture of your tree as it grows. This reaps all kinds of benefits through not only helping the environment, but also supporting local communities and farmers. You can choose from a huge variety of trees and they make delightful gifts for a friend.

Words: Bella Charlton

15 September 2019

Eco Friendly Travel Tips

Advice, Uncategorised

We all know that travelling can be pretty bad for the planet, with air travel being the main culprit. But here are a few simple steps you can take not to make it any worse, tailored to the classic mountain holiday.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

Pack Light

Every kilo of weight increases the CO2 emissions of planes, trains and cars, so when you’re packing, think carefully about what you’re actually going to need while you’re away. Check the forecast, research what the weather is likely to be doing during your trip and pack accordingly. For example, if you’re going on a ski holiday in April you’re probably not going to need the same amount of layers as you would in January as it won’t be as cold.

Prepare Your Home

Unplug your electrics, turn all the lights off, turn the thermostat down, close all the windows, generally make sure your house or apartment is in energy-saving mode before you leave. Did you know that if something is plugged in at the wall and not being used (prime example: phone chargers) it can still leach out excess electricity? Unplug those appliances, save yourself money on your heating and electricity bill and leave the house feeling prepared.

Take your Reusable Coffee Cup, Water Bottle, Shopping and Produce Bags with You

When you’re travelling you can accumulate a lot of rubbish in a short space of time, but remembering your reusable kit will massively reduce that. It may be a cheesy thing to say, but climate change doesn’t take holidays, so when we’re travelling it’s important to remember to keep doing all the things we do at home to reduce waste. If you’re in Switzerland it’s also important to note that you CAN drink the water from taps in the toilets and in the mountains it’s generally safe to drink water from the troughs around town – tried and tested – but if you’re worried there are a range of filters available that make any water safe to drink.

Don’t Buy Travel-Sized Toiletries

While small, single use, plastic travel toiletries may help you save on packing space, they’re terrible for the planet. The best way to save on plastic is to buy in bulk and then refill, and there’s no reason you can’t do this with your toiletries, too. You can buy small reusable bottles from most pharmacies or supermarkets that you can fill up with your regular shampoo to take on holiday, or you can even reuse old bottles or pots you have lying around at home. You’d be surprised what you can use if you’re willing to get creative and plan in advance.

Invest in a Soap Box

If you already cut down on plastic by using a bar of soap instead of shower gel and shampoo bars instead of bottles, you’re in need of a soap box. Lush does a great selection of cork and tin boxes expressly for travel purposes, and you can also head to your local organic or camping shop to see what they have on offer. But again, you’d be surprised what you can find around the house that’s perfect for storing a bar of soap or shampoo for a week or two. Old moisturiser pots, sturdy glass jars and small Tupperwear containers work just as well.

ON THE MOVE

Carbon Offset Your Flight

If you have the option to carbon offset your flight, why not take it? It might cost you a bit more money (and it might be a bit of an ethical minefield), but it’s more about the statement than the extra dollar. If an airline sees more and more people offsetting the CO2 created by their flight, it shows them that their customers care about the planet and will encourage them to think more about their environmental initiatives. (Hopefully.) Too many companies fail to implement impactful environmental policies because they say their customers don’t want to pay a premium for products and services that take the environment into account. Let’s spend a few extra bucks to prove them wrong, and thus, help make ‘premium’ eco-friendly services more accessible to everyone.

Or Better Yet, Take the Train

The same theory applies to train travel. While it’s widely accepted as the most eco-friendly form of transport to the Alps, it takes longer (especially if you’re not travelling from London), it’s more expensive than flying and you often end up having to schlep across Paris or London with all your ski or bike gear. Not ideal. But the more people who use the train to get to the Alps, the more likely it is for rail networks to improve their routes, prices and services.

Think About Your Airport Transfers

In Morzine we’re lucky to have a huge range of airport transfer companies at our fingertips to get you from the airport to the mountains. But if you’ve been stuck in backed up traffic on a Saturday getting to resort you’ll know the impact of driving, too! While a transfer is the easiest option, it’s also possible to get to Morzine using public transport (train to Thonon and bus to Morzine) and it takes about three hours, but we know timing is an issue when getting to the airport, and the bus doesn’t run very regularly, so a shared transfer is often your best option. It’s just like car-pooling for airport transfers.